With their bluff striping and rolling gait , the toyger can make you palpate like a tiger king in the comfort of your own living elbow room .
Toyger is n’t a name that beats around the bush . Without even seeing one , you have a go at it right away this cat is supposed to look like a tiny Panthera tigris . A toy tiger , if you will .
Created in the 1980s , the toyger is a cat cover specifically to retroflex not only the striped markings of its jungle cat namesake , but other strong-arm traits as well . This has resulted in a brawny , athletic cat with a rolling pace that looks like she ’d be more at home in an Amerind hobo camp than a living room . Never fear : These kitty were also bred to be friendly and societal , and they love to be around their humankind and other furred friends .
Kutikova Ekaterina / Shutterstock
Appearance
As a new breed , some of the design elements are still being hammered out , but make no mistake : The toyger looks more like a full - sized tiger than any other tabby you ’ve ever seen . But do n’t be dissipate ; there are n’t actually any Panthera tigris factor in their deoxyribonucleic acid .
Bred fromBengals(the domesticated cats , not the gaga tigers ) and various stripy felines , toygers resemble a mackerel queen qat , but are a bit more glammed - up . On her head are markings that create a round blueprint , framing her fount . move down the body , in lieu of the more or less straight , vertical striping common with tabbies , the toyer ’s plunder is thicker , more broken , and in more random patterns . They ’re mate with thick , horizontal striping on the wooden leg , with a dark tail tip and feet , and a white underbelly . Just like their jungle inspiration , every toyger ’s scoring are unique to that special cat . And underneath those stripes is a gorgeous halcyon - orangey color .
In addition to the pelage markings , toygers have heavily muscle frame and long , low - slung torsos . They also have big - boned , high - hardening shoulders , which assist give them that familiar , rolled gait of the large wild cats . The distinctive toyger stands at 9–13 inches tall and weight between 7–15 dog pound .
Temperament
Toygers arevery healthy catswho enjoy being challenged and stimulated by their humans , and can evenbe instruct tricks(such as how to act fetch ) or how towalk on a leashwith relative ease .
Along with tone , toygers have been bred to be laid - back , well-disposed fellow . Kirsten Kranz , director ofSpecialty Purebred Cat Rescue , sound out their personality are " Bengal - like , " but , " not quite as wild as the typical Bengal . "
" Bengals on the whole lean to be more autonomous and engaged , " Kranz says . " They can be challenging to people newfangled to cats or who have not had very fighting CT . However , with the integration of domestic gene into this mutation , [ toygers ] may be gentle . "
Though they might not beasactive as their Bengal cousin when it come to exploring or climbing , toygers still have an centre for adventure — as long as their human being is by their side . Instead of prowling on her own , she tends to prefer to stick fair closely to her people , harmonise to theToyger Cat Society , and is more likely to wantyouto play with her rather than entertain herself .
Living Needs
Toygers wish to be on the go , so they ’ll need plenty of wall socket for their sizable energy , be it abox of toys , a scratching post , orsomething to climb on . For some extra strong-arm and genial stimulation , train your toyger to walk on a trinity and take her on walks .
As social CAT , toygers get along well with other cats anddogs — in fact , they might favor if theyweren’tan only fur child . Toygers ' playful personalities also makes them agood couple for tyke , whom they can run around the house with .
Care
As beautiful as those Panthera tigris - alike coat are , toygerswillshed their furall over your lounge , dress , and carpet . Weekly brushingshould keep most of the cat hair under restraint . Plus , it ’s a unspoiled means to bond with her !
Though some people might think cats do n’t need as much of the one - on - one clock time dogs thirst , this is n’t lawful — particularly for the social toyger . If you leave her alone for lengthened periods of prison term , she candevelop separation anxietyand you might come home to claw Simon Marks on your lounge .
Health
Because toygers are such a new breed , it ’s hard to say what , if any , health concern are specific to these qat . Getting them checked for stock " guy things " such aspatellar luxationandfeline infection peritonitiswill be important , and there ’s some evidence to suggest toygers are moresusceptible to heart murmursas well .
" The most vulgar matter we see in cats as far as disease iskidney disease , " enjoin Michelle Beck , DVM , CCRT , CVA , of theBacklund Animal Clinicin Omaha , Neb. " That ’s really just across the board in African tea . Kidney disease and heart disease are thing that veterinary bang to fit all khat for , just as a topic of row . "
" Cats by the historic period of 10 , almost 70 percent of them have arthritis somewhere in their body , " she continues . " qat are very salutary at blot out their painfulness . "
stockelements / Shutterstock
That power to mask pain in the ass — especially in stock that are n’t well - eff for throw specific health exit — can cause a lot of cat owner to forego things like unremarkable veterinary surgeon visits or preventative attention .
" It ’s not that we do n’t have great tending available for cats , " Beck read . " It ’s just that we do n’t see a deal of African tea . If they ’re an indoor cat , they ’re not peril to a caboodle of disease , and for outdoor farm cats , those cats lean to be allow alone as long as they ’re upright mouser . "
Kranz says toygers can potentially have the same health issues as Bengals , pay their shared gene . This includes , along with heart disease , eye diseaseand anesthetic allergies .
stockelements / Shutterstock
History
create by American breeder Judy Sugden in the eighties , the toyger was bred specifically to mime the stripes of a Bengal Panthera tigris . A longsighted - meter fancier of mackerel tabby cat cats , Sudgen noticed a kitty from one of her tabby had a unique spotted pattern on her tabernacle — an area normally devoid of markings in tabbies , concord toThe Governing Council of the Cat Fancy .
Sugden then begin an experimentation to see if she could more accurately mime a tiger ’s stripes , using that bozo along with a street Arabian tea with a unique spotted face she import from India . Along the way , she coalesce in breedings with various unpedigreed short haircloth with striping normal she like , as well as domestic Bengal cats ( a stock created by her mother , Jean Mill ) . The toyger was accepted for enrolment by The International Cat Association , and they were yield full recognition in 2007 .